PARA-CYCLING PRESS

South Africa’s Tri-cyclists have achieved great success at the start of the 2012 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in the Time Trial events in Rome, Italy on Friday 25th May.

Para-cyclists were treated to a warm and sunny day along the 4.7km course, with racing that started as early as 9am – the heat only relenting at the end of the afternoon.

The team settled in nicely in Rome earlier in the week, even without one of the tricycles, which seemed to go missing en route to Rome in Istanbul.

The road race route was found to be unbelievably challenging in the form of sharp turns coinciding with sudden gradient changes, including three or four hairpin turns. Concentration was key if the athletes were to safely finish the race, especially since the road surface was mostly poor.

Pre Time Trial preparations took place at a different location at Ostia, about 30km outside Rome central, at the beach so as not to risk any training issues on the route.

Friday’s TT racing proved spectacular for our tri-cyclists as Gerhard Viljoen and Madre Carinus found themselves on the podium to collect their silver and bronze medals respectively. Viljoen’s second place was just 18 seconds off the gold medal! The men and women’s Tricycle TT covered a distance of 9.4km on 2 laps of the course.

Handcyclist Stuart McCreadie (H2) was looking good and in fine shape during his challenge in the TT, positioned to finish with a bronze medal until the final lap of three, when he rounded the second last corner too fast and rolled his bike. McCreadie’s split time was 25 seconds off Italian H2 winner Podesta, and the final results saw bronze medallist Ablinger finish 33.01 seconds off the pace! The crash resulted in a few cuts and scrapes for McCreadie but it was the lost minutes that hurt so much more.

Cycling South Africa

Cycling South Africa is the governing body of cycling in South Africa and is a member of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). It is affiliated to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as well as the Department of Sport & Recreation. Cycling South Africa regulates the five major disciplines within the sport, both amateur and professional, which include: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking, BMX Biking, Track Cycling and Para-Cycling. Cycling South Africa’s “2020 Vision” strategy, to cater for both the elite cyclist as well as the everyday two- and three-wheel lovers, contributes to the organisation being a dynamic, successful and highly respected governing body of cycling, at both National and International level. Cycling South Africa is committed to transformation and development of the sport and making it accessible to all via its development programmes.